Bulbs

I just love to plant bulbs, they are so easy and carefree and you get beautiful flowers for very little work. My favorite are probably Daffodils. I have about 8 to 10 different types and I love them all. But I also really like tulips, poppy anemones, hyacinth, gladiolus and lilies and just about any other bulbs you can think of.

Favorite Links to Bulb Sites

Tulip World

Bulb.com

Daffodils

Though daffodils fall within the narcissus botanical family, the bulbs' flowers can seem homely once their spring bloom has passed. Do yourself a favor, though, and leave the foliage be. Like all bulbs, daffodils feed off the leaves, so removing the withered bloom too early guarantees a meager crop of flowers next spring. On the other hand, once the leaves yellow, it's a fine time to dig daffodils up and divide new bulbs off the original. Replanted properly, they'll flower just like their parents for seasons to come.

Tulips

Gladiolus

Oriental Lilies

Oriental lilies are the most flamboyant in the world of lilies. Their huge, intensely fragrant, richly colored flowers are carried on long, strong stems in the late summer.
Thanks to the hybridizers, we now can enjoy a variety of colors, heights, and forms, and a blooming season that can last all summer.
Lilies do not require special soil, but they do need good drainage. Lilies are like Clematis in that they prefer their heads in the sun and their feet in the shade. I plant a low growing perrenial groundcover over some of my bulb beds, this keeps color in the beds plus helps keep the ground cooler for my lilies. I also use cypress mulch over some of the beds.

Flowers throughout the year

Almost throughout the year bulbs can be used in the garden: in spring, summer and in autumn, as late as November when the tiny Cyclamen coum starts to flower. So explore the possibilities of bulbs and turn your garden into a year-round bulb paradise.

Bulbs can be divided in three groups: spring flowering, summer flowering and autumn flowering bulbs.

Well-known
spring flowering bulbs are Tulips, Daffodils, Crocuses, Hyacinths and Alliums. Spring flowering bulbs have in common that they need to be planted some 3 – 4 weeks before the frost is in the ground. They need the cold season to start their biological clock. Hence in general spring flowering bulbs will grow in climate zones 4-8.

Well-known
summer flowering bulbs are Dahlias, Begonias, Lilies, Gladiolas and Callas. Summer flowering bulbs are planted late spring. A couple of months later they will bloom. Summer flowering bulbs will bloom in most climates but most of them are not winter hardy. Hence in cold climates most summer flowering bulbs should be lifted and stored to be used the next season. You can also treat them as annuals, that's what I do with my glads.

Well-known
autumn flowering bulbs are Autumn Crocuses and Colchicums. Autumn flowering bulbs are planted in summer. They will add some colour to your garden when it is most needed.

Most bulbs return several years in a row

Most bulbs perennialize and some even naturalize. Perennializing bulbs will return several years in a row. Naturalizing bulbs will reproduce and come back every year.